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Kyushu not only offers beautiful scenic rides, cutest mascots and overall friendly atmosphere, but also huge diversity of cafes – from the old style kissatens to modern third wave coffee shops. The cafés listed in this article are the places we loved – friendly, delicious and beautiful.
The advantage of cafe hopping in Kyushu is that you usually find no queues, very friendly staff and quiet atmosphere. This makes the experience more pleasant than the long queues and crowded venues in more popular tourist locations.
Best Cafes in Fukuoka
While Fukuoka city itself may not have too many sightseeing spots, the city is vibrant and has a number of cafes, restaurants and eateries.
This actually is not a coffee shop just in Fukuoka. It’s a chain with branches in several cities. I loved their wonderful cappuccino and pastries – they know how to make a good cappuccino, which is not always easy to find. While they have a seating area, it’s a café more for a quick breakfast coffee, than sitting long.
A spacious café with delicious coffee and cakes. You can come here to hang out and enjoy the vibes.
Another branch of this character café. It does need reservations as well, but if you didn’t manage them in Tokyo, maybe you will be able to do so here. Check out their official website – remember, reservations open on the 10th of each month at 6pm for the following month. But the cancelled reservations can result in opening more spots throughout the month.
This café is known for its breakfast and especially pancakes.
Cozy café with beautiful décor.
This chocolate café looks amazing. They have everything chocolaty, what’s not to like?
Best Cafes in Kumamoto
This lovely little city with its cutest mascot has some great options for food places and cafes. And the people in this cute city are the most open and welcoming.
First thing you do, when you want sweets in Kumamoto, should be to visit this chocolate shop. I didn’t know about it and accidentally noticed from the street, it just looked so appealing. It didn’t disappoint, the chocolates are absolutely amazing and the staff was awesome. He offered us to try a piece of chocolate to see which one we liked. We got our chocolates with ice pack, so that they didn’t melt. That ice pack lasted amazingly long – for a few hours. Absolutely one of my favorite chocolate shops.
By the way, this is apparently a chain of chocolate shops with branches around Japan. So search for one in the areas you are visiting – you can find one in Tokyo, Osaka, Toyama and elsewhere too.
We came here in the evening after a long day of exploring Kumamoto. The vibe was quiet and nice. The desserts are delicious – just look at this affogato dessert with strong espresso shot (pictured here). Plus, staff is so welcoming.
Café La Paix – Since closed, hopefully will reopen
This small café is near the Suizenji gardens just across the tram station, which makes it very convenient to visit. We visited just after the garden, exactly as it opened at 11.30am. They had great coffee and food. Keep in mind, they only take cash, no cards – we learned that the hard way exactly when we ran out of cash. If you are in the similar situation, there’s Lawson a few minutes away with an ATM 😊
Modern café in the center of Kumamoto. Do come here if you want your morning coffee fix.
Vintage kissaten a bit farther away from downtown Kumamoto.
Best Cafes in Yufuin
This café has two branches. One linked above located near the Yufuin train station, which is bigger and has seating area. Second branch is located inside the village – it doesn’t have any seating though, so you will have to order takeaway.
They have delicious cheesecakes. We grabbed the big Japanese cheesecake at the branch near the train station after exploring Yufuin village and ate it on the train. The cheesecake was soft and delicious. Definitely worth it.
We also tried their tasty small cheesecake in jars. This one is different compared to the big Japanese cheesecake, it’s softer and there are chocolate flavoured ones. We tried this at the second branch inside the Yufuin village.
A café with outside seating overlooking with the views of the Kinrin lake. Definitely grab a seat outside if you can. Unlike most other cafes we visited around Kyushu, this one gets very crowded. Better to come here first thing after you get to Kinrin lake, if you can. While the main reason to visit is the view, they have good coffee and pastries as well.
Very close to the Kinrin lake, this café might be a bit difficult to find. But Google location is correct, you will just need to go to the second floor on the left hand side, as soon as you enter the courtyard. We were a bit confused and not sure, but checked the only sign we saw 🙂
Do visit, if you want a quiet spot to relax during your visit to the crowded Yufuin village. While all the surrounding places were crowded, this cafe only had few people. I guess the reason was its hidden location. The cafe has a lovely wooden decor and classical music. You can get only strong black coffee with or without milk.
This Snoopy character cafe in located in central Yufuin. It has cute interior, beautiful desserts and merchandise.
Best Cafes in Nagasaki
This beautiful old style café is located inside the Glover Garden. You can find the café once you go up to the second level using the escalators. The coffee shop blends European with local Japanese (as everything in Glover Garden) and the result is beautiful. We found a respite here during our visit on a very hot day and definitely loved the vibe. How cute is this coffee cup?
We chanced upon this old style café when wandering around Nagasaki. We needed coffee so we simply googled the cafes nearby and this one came up. We were lucky, it turned out to be a cute Japanese café with vintage furniture. We were the only customers that afternoon. The lady was very welcoming and nice. We had to take our shoes off, as is common in the traditional Japanese cafes. We ordered black coffee – options are limited, as you can guess, don’t expect elaborate cappuccinos here 🙂
I highly recommend this hidden gem if you are in the area.
Lovely kissaten with wooden decor.
Want to check out cafes in other parts of Japan?
See my guide to Japanese cafe culture
